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Monday, December 9, 2013

That time my robots played Smurbots in the movie HellBenders!

The robots on the set of HellBender March 2011 (photo courtesy of Prop Master Joanna Tillman)

I missed the fact this movie was released in October of 2013! Now the full tale can be told. Back in March of 2011 an awesome gal by the name of Joanna Tillman contact me and asked to use some of my Grungy Bot robot sculptures in an indie horror movie she was the Prop Master on: HellBenders. Still remember geek-out laughing all day after reading the email. The movie could turn out good or good/bad and helping out an indie movie? I grew up on Mystery Science Theater 300, the answer was yes. We agreed on which robots they would use, I was sent paperwork (they break the robots, they buy them), script pages showing how the robot sculptures would be used, paperwork agreeing to no spoilers about the plot and everything spelled out clearly. Basically a fancy rental agreement.

My little movie stars, group photo before heading to the set in New York

So my Grungy Bots were cast to play Smurbots filling in for other famous "Smur" creatures, apparently. So, five robot sculptures were packed up and shipped to New York for just under a month. The propmaster was awesome, emailed updates and sent me photos of my robots on set. This delighted me to no end. In the end one robot was adopted by the production and four robots returned to me.

The robots on the set of HellBender March 2011 (photo courtesy of Prop Master Joanna Tillman)

I didn't realize how high the production quality was going to be, having
now see the film. I think of indie flicks as a small group of people and a camera.
The few pages I read from the script didn't give away the darker tone of the flick. So, I'm impressed and surprised.

Screen-grab from the movie HellBenders where the robots make their cameo as Smurbots

If you do get around to watching this film look out for my robots at about 33 minutes in. For more Behind-the-Scenes photos of my robots hard at work on the set head over to the Hellbenders Photo Gallery I've setup on Flickr.

These days those Grungy Bots have retired from film and now guard my other robots looking for a good geeky homes.